Radio România Internațional

Tag: book launches

  • The Gaudeamus International Book Fair

    The Gaudeamus International Book Fair

    Romanian Centennial was the central theme of the 25th
    edition of the Gaudeamus International Book and Education Fair, hosted between
    November 14th and 18th by the Romexpo Exhibition Centre
    in Bucharest. Around 600 volumes and some 50 events-book launches and
    presentations, debates, film screenings, public lectures-marked the Great Union
    Centennial and the end of World War I, as well as 90 years since the first
    broadcast aired by Radio Romania.


    This year, the Fair brought together over 300 participants:
    established Romanian publishing institutions, education institutions, book and
    periodical distributors, producers of educational games, professional
    associations and NGOs working in the field of culture and education. Our guests
    today, Bogdan Alexandru Stanescu, head of the Biblioteca Polirom world
    literature collection, Andreea Rasuceanu, the initiator and coordinator of the
    Contemporary Romanian Writers series of the Humanitas publishing house, and
    Eli Banica, the initiator and head of the n’autor collection launched by
    Nemira Publishers, spoke about the highlights of this year’s edition.


    George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant was one of the most eagerly
    awaited releases in Biblioteca Polirom collection. Bogdan Alexandru Stanescu
    told us more about this volume and about other novelties in the collection:


    The book brings together essays on the years spent by George
    Orwell as a member of the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, in 1922-1927, and on
    his self-imposed poverty period. These essays are, perhaps to a higher extent
    than his diary, in a position to shed light on the portrait of this British
    writer. Another new title in Biblioteca Polirom is Philip Roth’s Why Write?
    brilliantly translated by Radu Pavel Gheo. It is a non-fiction book, comprising
    interviews, essays, confessions, the last book that Roth lived to see
    published, by the prestigious Library of America. It also includes
    autobiographical pieces published by Roth between 1960 and 2014. Also in this
    year’s edition of Gaudeamus we launched A Lifetime in Letters. Correspondence
    I (1879-1890) by A. P. Chekhov. It is an edition translated and edited by
    Sorina Balanescu, and this first volume of Chekhov’s epistolary autobiography
    comprises letters sent by the author between 1879 and 1890. It was originally
    designed as a 3-volume edition, but details change from one month to the next,
    so a fourth volume is not out of the question.


    Last year, Humanitas Publishers launched a new collection, entitled
    Contemporary Romanian Writers. Andreea Rasuceanu, the coordinator of the
    collection, believes that contemporary Romanian literature is very diverse, and
    this diversity must be properly showcased. She also gave us details about new
    titles launched in this collection at the Gaudeamus fair:


    Humanitas Publishers opened the series of new releases with
    3 new books. The first is Radu Vancu’s Transparency, an erudite, semi-fantasy
    novel, reminding of Mircea Cartarescu’s style, and which incorporates a
    wonderful love story. The plot is set in a mythical version of Sibiu, rewriting
    its map and including it in a list of fictionalised cities. Another book that
    we launched at Gaudeamus is Iulian Popa’s debut work, Guadalajara, a short
    story volume. The author has a fresh voice, one that convinced me as soon as I
    read some of his stories. They have a sense of quaintness, of melancholy,
    whether they talk about a couple’s crisis, about the loneliness and confusion
    of old age, or about the lack of communication in today’s world. It is a prose
    in which I believe, and I hope it will be successful. And not least, we have a
    collective volume, an anthology called 16 prose writers of today, which
    includes works by some of the most important contemporary Romanian prose
    writers.


    Another collection focusing on Romanian literature is n’autor, launched
    by Nemira this year. A collection that describes the world we live in, the
    reality of our days and of the past, snapshots of Romanian society and of the
    world, the constantly changing mankind. Eli Badica:


    The latest volume, which we launched at the Gaudeamus Fair,
    is a novel entitled The night between the worlds, by Irina Georgescu Groza.
    Irina made her debut with a volume of short stories brought out by Casa de
    Pariuri Literare 2 years ago, and now she is back with this splendid novel,
    whose protagonist is a very special little girl living in the communist era. As
    regards how we promote and receive literature, what I can say is that foreign
    literature still benefits from much stronger promotion than Romanian
    literature. But all the responses we have received so far since the launch of
    this collection, n’autor, help me remain an optimist. During our promotion
    tours we talked to bookshop owners, who know better than anyone what sells and
    what doesn’t, and they are optimistic as well. They told me that the recent
    releases in this collection, namely A horse in a sea of swans by Raluca Nagy
    and Stories from a garage by Goran Mrakic, were very well received by
    readers. They were books that people are buying and talk about, from readers to
    bloggers and journalists. This makes me believe in the Romanian public and I
    think it is a good time for the Romanian market, in the sense that Romanian authors
    are increasingly visible and readers are beginning to realise that many of the
    Romanian writers are just as good as foreign ones.

  • The Gaudeamus International Book Fair

    The Gaudeamus International Book Fair

    Romanian Centennial was the central theme of the 25th
    edition of the Gaudeamus International Book and Education Fair, hosted between
    November 14th and 18th by the Romexpo Exhibition Centre
    in Bucharest. Around 600 volumes and some 50 events-book launches and
    presentations, debates, film screenings, public lectures-marked the Great Union
    Centennial and the end of World War I, as well as 90 years since the first
    broadcast aired by Radio Romania.


    This year, the Fair brought together over 300 participants:
    established Romanian publishing institutions, education institutions, book and
    periodical distributors, producers of educational games, professional
    associations and NGOs working in the field of culture and education. Our guests
    today, Bogdan Alexandru Stanescu, head of the Biblioteca Polirom world
    literature collection, Andreea Rasuceanu, the initiator and coordinator of the
    Contemporary Romanian Writers series of the Humanitas publishing house, and
    Eli Banica, the initiator and head of the n’autor collection launched by
    Nemira Publishers, spoke about the highlights of this year’s edition.


    George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant was one of the most eagerly
    awaited releases in Biblioteca Polirom collection. Bogdan Alexandru Stanescu
    told us more about this volume and about other novelties in the collection:


    The book brings together essays on the years spent by George
    Orwell as a member of the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, in 1922-1927, and on
    his self-imposed poverty period. These essays are, perhaps to a higher extent
    than his diary, in a position to shed light on the portrait of this British
    writer. Another new title in Biblioteca Polirom is Philip Roth’s Why Write?
    brilliantly translated by Radu Pavel Gheo. It is a non-fiction book, comprising
    interviews, essays, confessions, the last book that Roth lived to see
    published, by the prestigious Library of America. It also includes
    autobiographical pieces published by Roth between 1960 and 2014. Also in this
    year’s edition of Gaudeamus we launched A Lifetime in Letters. Correspondence
    I (1879-1890) by A. P. Chekhov. It is an edition translated and edited by
    Sorina Balanescu, and this first volume of Chekhov’s epistolary autobiography
    comprises letters sent by the author between 1879 and 1890. It was originally
    designed as a 3-volume edition, but details change from one month to the next,
    so a fourth volume is not out of the question.


    Last year, Humanitas Publishers launched a new collection, entitled
    Contemporary Romanian Writers. Andreea Rasuceanu, the coordinator of the
    collection, believes that contemporary Romanian literature is very diverse, and
    this diversity must be properly showcased. She also gave us details about new
    titles launched in this collection at the Gaudeamus fair:


    Humanitas Publishers opened the series of new releases with
    3 new books. The first is Radu Vancu’s Transparency, an erudite, semi-fantasy
    novel, reminding of Mircea Cartarescu’s style, and which incorporates a
    wonderful love story. The plot is set in a mythical version of Sibiu, rewriting
    its map and including it in a list of fictionalised cities. Another book that
    we launched at Gaudeamus is Iulian Popa’s debut work, Guadalajara, a short
    story volume. The author has a fresh voice, one that convinced me as soon as I
    read some of his stories. They have a sense of quaintness, of melancholy,
    whether they talk about a couple’s crisis, about the loneliness and confusion
    of old age, or about the lack of communication in today’s world. It is a prose
    in which I believe, and I hope it will be successful. And not least, we have a
    collective volume, an anthology called 16 prose writers of today, which
    includes works by some of the most important contemporary Romanian prose
    writers.


    Another collection focusing on Romanian literature is n’autor, launched
    by Nemira this year. A collection that describes the world we live in, the
    reality of our days and of the past, snapshots of Romanian society and of the
    world, the constantly changing mankind. Eli Badica:


    The latest volume, which we launched at the Gaudeamus Fair,
    is a novel entitled The night between the worlds, by Irina Georgescu Groza.
    Irina made her debut with a volume of short stories brought out by Casa de
    Pariuri Literare 2 years ago, and now she is back with this splendid novel,
    whose protagonist is a very special little girl living in the communist era. As
    regards how we promote and receive literature, what I can say is that foreign
    literature still benefits from much stronger promotion than Romanian
    literature. But all the responses we have received so far since the launch of
    this collection, n’autor, help me remain an optimist. During our promotion
    tours we talked to bookshop owners, who know better than anyone what sells and
    what doesn’t, and they are optimistic as well. They told me that the recent
    releases in this collection, namely A horse in a sea of swans by Raluca Nagy
    and Stories from a garage by Goran Mrakic, were very well received by
    readers. They were books that people are buying and talk about, from readers to
    bloggers and journalists. This makes me believe in the Romanian public and I
    think it is a good time for the Romanian market, in the sense that Romanian authors
    are increasingly visible and readers are beginning to realise that many of the
    Romanian writers are just as good as foreign ones.

  • The Poetry Can be Found in Bistritsa International Poetry and Chamber Music

    The Poetry Can be Found in Bistritsa International Poetry and Chamber Music

    Poetry can be found in Bistrita for seven years now, in July. And it’s not only poetry, but also public readings, book launches, live concerts, theatre shows, debates, all part of the Poetry can be Found in Bistrita International Poetry and Chamber Music Festival, aimed at giving a fresh impetus to Bistrita’s cultural life. All that stands proof of the fact that the need for literature, the need to meet the writers in person, is very valid today, the more so as unlike other cultural spaces, Romania does not have a tradition of its own as regards public readings.



    Acclaimed writer Mircea Cartarescu used to say, sometime after one of the early editions of the festival, “I did not have very high expectations, yet my expectations, had they been high, were exceeded by the festival. I overcame my hesitations and, to my surprise, I managed to communicate with the people just fine and I gained a lot from that. As I was saying on stage: now I have a much better image of what is going on in Romanian poetry”. With more details, here is Marin Malaicu-Hondrari the selector of the Poetry can be Found in Bistrita International Poetry and Chamber Music Festival.



    “I truly believe Mircea Cartarescu’s statement, since I can still remember the edition he was invited to, quite unlike other poets he attended all reading sessions and listened to all poets, be they very young or poets of his generation. What we basically had in mind, writer Dan Coman, Gavril Tarmure, the director of the festival and myself, was to bring over poets of all generations, and from one year to the next we tried to provide an overview of Romanian poetry of today, also seeking to include mainly those who already had already at least one volume published. For instance, this year invited to take part in the festival were poets who came up with new poetry volumes, in 2015, or even this year, 2016.”



    With each edition, the Poetry can be Found in Bistrita International Poetry and Chamber Music Festival has grown in significance. It boasts a greater number of stage performances, reading sessions in a penitentiary, discussions on literature, specifically the debate hosted by the Plan B Café, which has already become a tradition, events staged by the Blecher Institute, the reading club run and chaired by Claudiu Komartin, a club that roughly hosted one hundred and fifty living Romanian writers, of all literary generations, ranging from writers of the 60s to those of the post-2000 generation, who haven’t published their debut volumes yet.



    For several editions now, a prose writer has been the poets’ guest, and in 2013, the event had its inaugural international edition, where quite a few poets offered reading sessions. Among them, Constantin Acosmei, Daniel Bănulescu, Andrei Bodiu, Marius Chivu, Vladimir Đurišić of Montenegro, Gabi Eftimie, Jan Mysjkin of Belgium, Mihail Gălăţanu, Adela Greceanu, István Kemény of Hungary Vlad Moldovan, Ion Mureşan, Ştefan Manasia, Henrik Nilsson of Sweden, Enrique Nogueras of Spain, Florin Partene, Ioan Es. Pop and Oana Văsieş.



    The festival has acquired an international scope. This wasn’t something organizers had included on their agenda from the very beginning. With details on that, here is one of the selectors in the Poetry Can be Found in Bistrita International Poetry and Chamber Music Festival, Marin Malaicu-Hondrari.



    “When we started off, the only thing we knew was we would have liked a lot to be able to offer poetry to audiences in Bistrita and beyond, as coming to the festival are people from other parts of the country as well. It never occurred to us someday we would be able to invite foreign poets and it never occurred to us professionals would also give us a hand. They helped translate works for the festival, just like Florin Bican did. He helped us a lot in the past and will do the same this year as well. Something like that gives me a lot of confidence, it appears that if you do things properly and do not do your job hastily, and if you do not make any compromises, things are highly likely to work out fine. It is true that the festival has grown and has been very well received in the cultural press and the European cultural space. For instance, we have managed to create a strong bond with the Flemish Literary Fund, which supports the participation of a Dutch poet in the Bistrita festival each year. And as of this year, we hope we can continue our collaboration with the US Embassy, which this year helped us bring over two poets from the United States.”



    Here is writer and selector Marin Malaicu-Hondrari, this time speaking about how the Romanian poetry of today is viewed from the perspective of the Poetry Can be Found in Bistritsa International Poetry and Chamber Music Festival.



    “Today’s Romanian poetry looks very, very good, and I’m saying this comparing it to the Spanish-language poetry. We really stand at the highest level at the moment. We also have a promising young generation, and I would like to mention the name of Alex Vasies, who this year is invited to the festival, and who has recently got his debut volume, The Installation, brought out by the Cartea Romaneasca Publishers, then there’s also Alina Purcaru who made her debut in poetry and who got her debut book brought out by the Cartea Romaneasca Publishers. If we take the names of Ioan Es.Pop and Angela Marinescu into account, we fare excellent, as regards poetry. Of course, I mean that in comparison to the literature of other countries. If we think of market sales percentage alone in the case of poetry books, we fare less satisfactory, but that only happens because the Romanian book market is a market that doesn’t work quite well. The same goes for prose books. On the bright side however, poetry books continue to be published, there are publishers who have the courage to bring out poetry books, even translations. As for us, with the Charmides Publishers, we brought out Romanian versions of Hungarian poets, Polish poets, and right now we’re trying to publish an anthology of poems by a Spanish author.”


    (Translated by E. Nasta)